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Gift of Joseph Sataloff, M.D., and Ruth SataloffLabel
This type of opium pipe, “Yen Tsiang” or “smoking pistol,” was common throughout nineteenth-century China–a period when opium consumption was widely practiced among various social groups. Made out of precious materials, such as jade and silver, the pipe conveys the owner’s relative wealth and elevated status. Additionally, the pipe is decorated with bat motifs, which promote good fortune (the Chinese word for “bat” sounds identical to the word for “luck”).Label Type
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Label written by Jared Nachimson, ‘27.